Long Before You
by FantasticNic
Summary: (Request) The past comes to light and brings out jealousy for Gray


**Requested,**_** What if Gajeel and Juvia had a fling in their past. **_

Cana tipped her head back taking a long swig from her drink before looking back at the friends gathered around her, she had seemed stressed when Levy and Gajeel came to sit with her, before long they were joined by Gray and Juvia and everyone waited for her to vent her worries.

"Well, it's simple really, Bacchus wants to take the next step and I don't think it's a good idea," Cana informed the group.

"By next step what exactly are we talking," Levy grew curious, "moving in, meeting the parents, or what?"

"Sex," Cana hiccupped, "I don't want to ruin our friendship. Sure, we might have some chemistry, but he's acting like it won't mess up our drinking buddy status if things don't pan out."

"I thought you'd already done that," Levy was shocked.

"Nope."

"Well maybe it won't ruin anything," Juvia said cheerfully.

"Exactly, maybe it won't be an issue, I've seen it work," Levy added.

"Really," Cana took another long drink, "name one time someone went right back to being friends."

"Well—" Levy stuttered, "It- it's not my story to tell."

Juvia exchanged looks across the table as Gajeel shifted in his seat and Gray noticed a tension growing at the table.

Cana leaned forward not missing a thing and pushed for information, "what exactly happened?"

Gray was stoic, "I am a little curious myself."

Levy glanced over, "you didn't know?"

He shot right back, "you did?"

Juvia chewed her lip and locked eyes with Gajeel, he spoke first, "It was a long time ago, back when we were both new to Phantom Lord. I clashed with most of the guys there and ended up hanging out with Rain Woman since we lived in the same building. They stuck her way on the outskirts of town because of the constant rain, trying to keep the city dry I guess, and I liked it out there because it was quiet, and I could be left alone."

"From there," Juvia said, "we spent a lot of time together when not at the guild, he became my best friend. I was always depressed because of the rain, but sometimes I swear it would seem lighter and less gloomy with Gajeel around."

No one dared speak to risk interrupting the story and all eyes were on the pair, "I found her outside our building staring towards town one day, the rain was just drizzly that day and she looked bummed. She started talking about some stuff, and well…"

"There was a small festival in town, and when the rain hit people started saying it was almost romantic and it felt oddly sad despite them not condemning the rain at that moment. It was almost more painful to have others grow closer and kiss in the rain that kept anyone from getting close to me," small droplets formed in her eyes, "I wanted to know what it was like to be like them."

Stretching back in his seat Gajeel looked embarrassed to continue the story but he knew he couldn't leave Juvia to tell it on her own, who knows how much she would open up about. "So I kissed her, it was just meant to be that, but it got a bit out of hand when we started messing around more. So for a few months we were a thing, but not really because we were dating but more because we were both…" he failed to come up with words.

"Alone." Juvia's eyes held his, "we were the only thing the other had. It didn't last long when we realized we weren't meant to be in that sort of relationship, after the first time we slept together I think we both knew it wouldn't be anything more."

"We still hung out, we were still neighbors and I guess we just never let it ruin everything," Gajeel added with a shrug. "I told shrimp before we got too far into things."

"And I planned to tell Gray," Juvia said looking at her boyfriend's expression. "Remember when I said we needed to talk before things got much further, we just haven't had much time alone lately."

"And this never bothered you," Gray asked Levy directly.

She shook her head, "No, not really, it took a few days to sink in because it seemed impossible at first, but they are nothing more than friends so why should it bother me," her hand ran over her pregnant belly, "I trust him, and clearly they're not involved anymore."

Gray pressed his lips together into a fine line, he didn't like hearing the guy that spends the most time with Juvia had done things with her that he hasn't gotten to yet. "Okay then."

"So Cana," Levy asked, "what do you plan to do about Bacchus?"

"Who the hell cares about that right now? I just got my mind blown!"

Back at his apartment, Gray stood watching Juvia rummage in her overnight bag, how could he have not known all this time? Turning around Juvia saw his eyes drilling into her, not with anger, but hurt. "I really did plan to tell you, before we took the next step ourselves, that conversation was not meant to happen like this."

"I would hope not," he sat on the sofa, "I never would have thought that you'd been keeping this from me."

"It wasn't like that, there wasn't a right time, remember that this is very personal," her lip quivered, "please don't be mad."

Gray sighed pulling her into his lap, "I'm not mad, but I am surprised, if you'd done anything with someone, I would have thought it would be Bora."

"No, that didn't happen," Juvia frowned, "the rain chased him away before that."

Gray hated seeing her sad and started to feel guilty that his feelings about this secret were causing her grief. "Alright, enough about this, I'm going to push it out of my mind, let's eat."

The next morning Gray walked into the Guild and stopped dead in his tracks seeing Gajeel leaned over toward Juvia whispering something, he drew a deep breath and pushed it out slowly. This wasn't unusual, the only new thing was knowing the past between them. Walking across the room he changed his mind and sat with Juvia and Gajeel instead of his team, Levy glanced over at him with questioning raise of her eyebrows. Juvia nodded to whatever Gajeel had whispered and turned to Gray taking his hand, "Good morning Gray-sama."

"Why don't you pick a job this time Ameonna?" Gajeel asked, "I picked the last two, but don't choose anything too far away."

"Right," Juvia nodded.

"Are you going on a job today?" Gray asked quickly.

"Yes," Juvia smiled, "Gajeel wants to get a few more done before the babies are born."

"Ah, that makes sense," he reluctantly leaned back in his seat, "that's gonna be soon."  
Levy groaned as she shifted to lean forward, "any time now is alright with me, I feel like I can't get any bigger but the doctor assured me I can."

Time flew by and it seemed like mere minutes between Juvia looking at the job board until the moment Gray saw her off at the train station, he saw Levy making her way back into town and he moved to catch up with her, "Hey Levy, let me walk you back, are you going home or back to the guild?"

"Home and thank you." They walked together in silence until Levy looked up at Gray saying, "I know how you must be feeling right now, but remember she loves you and only you, it was a long time ago and nothing is going to happen."

"So, you never worry? When he is in her apartment in the middle of the night to kill a spider, you don't wish she'd call someone else?"

"It's never fun to have him leave in the middle of the night, but this is Juvia we are talking about, has he ever laid a hand on her that you thought was flirting or inappropriate the entire time you've known them?" Gray shook his head, Levy had a point, Juvia had been all about him since the day she'd joined the guild and that was probably part of the reason he was still having trouble believing her past with Gajeel. "Don't be jealous, it will eat you alive."

"I'm not jealous," he quipped.

"You are such a liar," Levy laughed, "thanks for walking me back though, I'm here if you need to talk."

Gray waited for her to be safe inside her home before going back to his own home, not feeling much like being around the entire guild, surely the story had spread by now and he didn't want to play 20 questions with Mira.

Three days later no one was more relieved to see Juvia back than Levy, Gray had driven her crazy by asking dozens of questions and refusing to let logic help him process the answers. She knew the guy could be jealous, but if he had come to her one more time with a worry she would have been tempted to go into hiding. When Juvia stepped off the train Levy waved her over and gave her a big hug whispering into her ear, "you need to go have a serious talk with Gray before he drives himself crazy."

Juvia turned to Gray when Levy released her and noticed he looked tired, had he slept at all recently? Gajeel handed Juvia her bag as he passed, and she saw a flash of concern on Gray's face and she knew it was definitely time to talk.

"Let's go, Gray. Do you want me to come over for a bit before I head home?" Juvia asked and Gray took her hand pulling her toward his apartment without answering.

Juvia gathered her thoughts on the walk back so once the door was closed and locked, she immediately knew what she intended to say, "Gray, this is my fault, I should have told you sooner and been clearer. I want to ask you something though, what would you do if we were sleeping together and I got pregnant?"

"What?" he looked surprised by the question, "we'd have a kid, we'd move in together and get married."

"Why?" she asked bluntly.

"Because I love you, that's just what we'd do."

"Well can you imagine me marrying Gajeel? Moving in with him and having a baby?"

Gray froze, "No. Not at all."

"Neither could we," she said softly touching Gray's cheek. "Yes, stuff happened in the past, but we both knew it wasn't going to turn into love no matter what, so we stopped before it became anything we couldn't get out of." She smiled at him, "Now you? I have imagined our future hundreds of times, that's why I waited for you. Love."


End file.
